Archetypal Spirituality

The Green Man

Welcome to the wonderfully rich world of Archetypal Spirituality!

Archetypal Spirituality approaches the realm of spirituality and religion through archetypes. Although we would make a case that all religions have been archetypal from the beginning, this way of explicitly understanding spirituality has gained impetus with the work of Carl Jung. It is possible to not only understand spirituality this way but also to practice it!.

Approaching religion through the archetypes, through the great father and mother, through the lover and warrior, through spirit and rebirth helps us to see and experience the luminous figures that have been at the foundation of most human spiritual endeavors. Rather than pitting them against each other we can access the power and beauty of the archetypes in our own lives and become inheritors of the whole history of spirituality.

The traditional way of spiritual practice is mythological – we enter into a world view based on the religious stories within a tradition whether it be Christianity or Hinduism, Wicca or Buddhism. If we are from the West then we may choose to remain agnostic about the religious myths and yet choose to follow the teachings of a religion, this is the way liberal Christians practice Christianity. Many Western Buddhists also practice Buddhism this way, seeking to live by the teachings of the Buddha while not adopting the mythology of reincarnation; yoga is often approached this way doing the exercises without adopting the mythology of the Hindu gods. At the core of religious myths we find the archetypes and so Archetypal Spirituality allows us to maintain the numinosity of the spiritual world without living exclusively within any one individual religious myth. We can maintain the power of faith in our lives while accepting all the diverse spiritual paths around us. It allows us to live spiritually without having to submit ourselves to the shadow sides of religion which often undo us; it provides a framework that allows us to sift through the variety of beliefs which flow from these mythologies.

If this kind of interspirituality appeals to you then I invite you to explore this web site further. If you are new to the world of archetypes then a good place to start is Introduction to Archetypes.